Easton Robert Ray!!!!

Easton Robert Ray

was born

June 24th @ 12:01 am.

8 lbs 13 oz

22 3/4 inches long

I went into the hospital on Thursday at 3:00, they put me on pitocin at 4:00, broke my water at 5, got my epidural at 8:15, started pushing at 11:36, and he was born at 12:01. What an exciting moment for our growing family!

Overall it was a great labor and deliver, especially when comparing it to miss Ashlyn's. My recovery so far has also been amazing. The only thing that has been more difficult this time is the cramping after. The day and the day after were awful, then I the dr. prescribed me something stronger and then next 2 days weren't bad at all. I don't even feel like I just had a baby! Awesome!!!

I hope you all enjoy the inside scoop of the labor and delivery of little Easton!

This here is them giving me the IV. I hate, hate, hate needles. The only needle I surprisingly welcomed was the epidural needle.

Because of the obvious peace it brought to my body and soul! I can't believe I am actually sharing with all of you these clearly embarrassing pictures with you. But it's all part of the experience.

Gabe calls this picture the Benjamin Button baby picture. I thought that was pretty funny. He was pretty swollen, but it has gone down a ton even a few hours later.

Gabe and I were completely and utterly shocked when we met little Easton for the first time, and he had Red Hair. We have absolutely no idea where that came from. In fact, we are still in a little shock over it.

A proud father....

Followed by a proud Grandmother. I'm so glad that my mom could be there. She's been so helpful to me while getting ready for the baby, and now after. I don't know what I would have done without her.

What a sweet little boy he is. When he first came out his cone head was so big, he looked a little bit like an alien head. But by the next day it had gone down so so much. He has been such a good baby so far. He sleeps all the time. He barely wakes even to eat. I have to wake him up after 6 hours sometimes to eat. Mostly for my benefit! You moms out there know what I am talking about! I just fall in love with him more every day!

A precious moment!

This is Easton 8 lbs 13 oz, with Ashley and McKay's Brinlee, 5 lbs 6 oz. She was born 2 days earlier than Easton, but looked a month younger. It was crazy to see the difference. He looked like a giant next to her.

We had lots of visitors, and we were so grateful for everyone who came to visit us in the hospital. It can be kind of long and boring, so we enjoyed the company! This pic is Lance and Easton. Almost all of our friends came, Lance and Kelly, Amy, Jessie and Dallin, Steve and Rebecca, My Aunt Chris was in town, so she came with Ashley and McKay. Of course my mom was there both days with us and she brought Ashlyn up to meet her little brother. It was a good time!

Ashlyn loves her new baby brother. She even cleaned up the snot that got on his face after she kissed him! How thoughtful is she? She gets SO excited to see and play with him everyday. She is adjusting quite well. We have to keep a close eye one her though because the other day she tried to share one of her olives, off her finger, with him.

We are so grateful and excited to have little Easton Ray in our family. We can't wait to watch him grow into a handsome young man.

38 weeks and 1 day!!!

That's right...I'm 38 weeks and 1 day. Anyone whose had a baby knows that it's important to get credit for every single day. So I have less than 2 weeks left. And if this one is anything like Ashlyn, he'll be here in about a week. We are a hopin'!!!! I can't believe how fast time has gone. I just hope I am ready.

I am feeling as good as you can feel in the last 2 weeks of pregnancy. My back hurts ONLY a little, I sleep through MOST of the night, I only KINDA' walk like an 80 year old woman, I absolutely love love love this baby's feet in my ribs all day long, and nothing happens to my pride when I roll out of bed like a whale or ask my husband or even friends to tie my shoes:) HALF GLASS FULL right? No really I'm doing great and this is such an exciting time for us to have this little boy coming to our home, we feel truly blessed!

The Beauty of Double Coupon Tuesdays:)

Double coupon tuesday...have you ever experienced this goodness? This was Gabe's and mine first experience with this and we LOVED it!!!! Take a look at all of this deliciousness, and guess before you look at the last picture how much 24 bottles of water and 24 bottles of Coke, and 48 candy bars cost us tonight?

$1.44

No your eyes have not deceived you. When we added it up the waters and coke would have cost $77 and the candy bars would have been $33. Dasani was doing a promotion where if you bought a water you got a candy bar for free. Then there was a coupon for $.50 off the water. But because it was double coupon tuesday we got a $1.00 off. So for a grand total of $1.44 we got 48 waters and cokes, and 48 delicious candy bars! Thank goodness my discipline is so good:)

Continue....

I just wanted to add that Gabe got about 24 pretzel M&M's because of my obsession with them in the beginning of this pregnancy. So it was so sweet when he brought them home for me. But he didn't know that ever since I gained 11 lbs in one month from eating them, they kind of turned me off from them. So being the sweet husband he is returned 22 of them for me. What was even more funny was the reaction from the same teller that sold him all this stuff when he was bringing them back. They weren't havin' it. But after he explained that his pregnant wife was wanting peanut butter snickers, they were a little more understanding:) I know I may seem a little high maintenance, but at least I don't send him out for ice cream at 12 am...right? What a great husband I have!!!

Memorable memorial weekend!!!

We had a great memorial day weekend. Our plan originally was to go camping in Jackson Hole, WY. The night before the weather forecast changed from warm to cold and rainy. So plans quickly changed from there to 20 min. past Manti, UT. I didn't know that I would be able to make that 6.5 hour drive at 36 weeks pregnant. But I hate to miss out on all the fun so we decided to go for it. It was more than slightly uncomfortable, but well worth the trip!

FRIDAY...We drove down on Friday morning. 4 hours later we arrived at Mark and Loretta's house. Then an hour later we were all off to the Palasades camp site, just past Manti. It was a lake front camping spot and a great view of it from the cabin, which was located up the hill. The only bad thing was we had to drive back and forth from the cabin and tents. Too bad they weren't right next to each other. We ended up spending all of the time at the cabin and set up our camp fire there. Let me just say, Mark and Loretta sure know how to camp. Every meal was perfectly planned, and quite delicious. They didn't miss a thing.

SATURDAY...Saturday was the perfect day, the weather was warm, we hung out, played lots of games, went into town, and ate lots of amazing food (which definitely showed on the scale at my next weigh in;).

I don't have pictures but when we went into the small town of Ephraim we had lunch, went to Walmart, and then went to the Scandenavian festival. It was a hot day, but it was fun to walk around, listen to the band they had, and soak up the sun. Although I think I soaked up a little too much sun...my skin was crazy burned that night!!!

Gabe, Mark, and Josh

Ashlyn loved riding behind the bike. I think we are going to need to make the investment!

Josh, Brit, Kelsey, Loretta (behind the post) and Mark

This was our Cabin. It had a 2 bunk beds with roll outs underneath, a bathroom, and a sink and fridge. It was a little cramp with Mark and Loretta, Brit, their 3 kids, Kelsey and Gideon, and Ashlyn and I. I actually camped in the tent the first night but Ashlyn woke up freezing in the morning that I thought it would be better in the cabin. Then the 2nd night Josh and Gabe joined us late because they didn't want to go down to the tents late at night. Lets just say it was a little tight. I was sleeping on a TWIN bed. I take up 3/4 of that on my own. Not to mention that I toss and turn now about every 5 min. Halfway through the night he was on the tile floor. Then the last hour he was back on the bed again. Not the most comfortable sleeping situation. The good thing is everyone was warm.

What a cute little girl! She's getting so big!

SUNDAY...Sunday morning, the weather was really nice. It was so nice, in fact, that we climbed the mountain right behind our cabin. I think everyone was slightly worried that I was going to go into labor, but I didn't want to miss out on that grueling hike. I was just proud I made it. Then late afternoon it was rainy and cold, as it was throughout the rest of the weekend:(

This is the mountain we hiked!

This is as far as the kids made it. It started to get too steep that we thought it would be better if they went back down.

35.5 weeks right there!

Let me just say that we all felt accomplished when we reached the top. That was not an easy climb. The moment we reached the top a guy on a four wheeler was driving by. We asked if he was giving rides. For some odd reason he laughed! Apparently he didn't see my 8 month belly. History has shown that when I climb mountains when I'm pregnant, I go into labor soon after. Luckily I made it down with baby in tact!

Funny story... The camp fire kept smoking so much that we though it would be good to take out some of the Ashes. So Mark, in his infinite wisdom, took the kids PLASTIC shovel, and dug a hole under our pit to put the ashes in. Then he started scooping the HOT ashes out with that same shovel...

After one scoop it started melting. So he thought that it would be a great idea to get another plastic shovel to help out....

As you can see this shovel didn't last very long either.

$10 later, Carly and Joseph then helped finish the job with a METAL pan. It worked, nothing compared to the 2 plastic shovels though! It provided a great laugh for us all:)

We all got a kick of Mark going for his morning ride in his plaid flannel PJ's!

MONDAY... we left the campsite and stayed at Mark and Loretta's. Then went the rest of the way home on Tuesday. It was a little easier to break it up then going the entire way all at once!

This was the first time that I have seen the Manti temple. It was amazing! I would love to go inside someday!